


constant waiting for another tidal wave

by izzetboilerworks



Category: Baseball RPF
Genre: enemies to lovers but this is just still in the enemies part
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-04 01:31:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17295128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izzetboilerworks/pseuds/izzetboilerworks
Summary: James has heard insidious, rude comments, not quite under the breath, once the cameras had stopped rolling.





	constant waiting for another tidal wave

**Author's Note:**

  * For [badritual](https://archiveofourown.org/users/badritual/gifts).



> thanks to a. for the beta. 
> 
> title from untamed by lunatic soul.

It’s easy to fake being friendly. People do it all the time. James has heard insidious, rude comments, not quite under the breath, once the cameras stop rolling. It makes sense, not everyone gets along. That’s just life and it’s been that way since little league and up. 

James remembers, when he first started playing ball, the son of the coach was already a big kid and a bully and he used to trip James when he was rounding the base paths, even though they were on the same team. He can’t remember what their win-loss record was, but he always remembers how stupid he felt face down in the dirt. 

How much he hated that guy. 

And how in college, he used to get a lot of shit from his pitcher, who liked to say Jess was an imaginary friend, despite people backing up she existed—including his roommate and their first baseman. 

So James is accustomed to some dislike, some people who just rub you the wrong way even without being antagonistic. One of the pitchers at Arkansas had never been anything but _kind_ to James, but he’d gotten under his skin and made James eventually ask the coach to not catch for him anymore. 

James doesn’t like José. 

They’d had that one dustup in the dugout and since then their relationship had been perfectly amicable. But it’d left a bad taste in his mouth and he’d never quite forgiven José for it. Even if he wasn’t the only one to blame—no one ever accused James of being smart. 

He loves Detroit, but after Jess left him, it’s nice to get out of the city. It’s nice to be moving on. Away from everything. The team is in shambles anyways so it’s not like he was getting downgraded exactly, just moved on from. 

He gets a call from the White Sox and he goes. It’s enough of an uprooting, a life change. And he can leave José behind. 

*

José had said his goodbyes to Detroit, in retrospect, James thinks maybe that should have made him want to stay but there’s too much history. He’s excited for it, though. He’s excited for the newness, for the new team, for the season to start. 

He spends the offseason finding a place to rent. 

And he links up with teammates and fans during SoxFest. He meets a few of the pitchers and meets their (refreshingly pleasant) shortstop and gets in good with the coaching staff. It’s going to be a great year, he can feel it, even though going to Detroit for games is probably going to be a bummer. But he thinks he’ll survive. 

The nice thing is he can reinvent himself in Chicago. He doesn’t have ties here, really, and no one knows Jess, knows him from the minors, he was just an opponent who was now an ally. 

James thinks that God is clearing the slate for him and it feels fantastic. 

*

Spring Training is difficult and familiar. Under the warm Arizona sun, James feels a certain sameness that is comforting and offputting somehow simultaneously. But that’s fine, because he’s sure that’ll help him slip into routine easier. 

And there’s the bramble and desert instead of palm trees.

It’s odd sliding on the Spring Training ’19 shirts, and them being black and white, and he tries to slip into it. There’s tons of hopeful rookies, grizzled veterans, journeyman players looking to get their big breaks and James hardly knows anyone. 

Some of them—he knows by virtue of facing them, people like Tim Anderson, or José Abreu. But most of it’s like the first day of high school, doing workouts and introducing himself to people. It’s nice. 

Near to Opening Day, things go somewhat sideways. 

During some routine practice, Anderson goes down, and they’re going to be without a starting short stop. It’s painful, seeing people get hurt, and he helps Anderson down to the bench, to get him some water, as trainers swarm around. 

It’s not until later they’re told the very bad news that the injury is in his Achilles tendon and it’ll need surgery. The estimated time to return is months out, possibly won’t be back for the season, considering the timing at the earliest would have him back in late July. Possibly not until October. 

*  
James prays for Tim’s recovery before he goes to sleep, prays for his health and safety and for his peace. James hasn’t suffered many major injuries, but any downtime was difficult to deal with and he doesn’t know what else to do, now that the season is winding up. 

*

José Iglesias, the blast from the recent past, the person James was most glad to leave behind, shows up in Arizona with a White Sox hat pulled down low against the sun. 

James feels tension wind up like a spring all through his body and he wonders: 

_why is god testing him_?


End file.
